Russian deputy PM holds talks with Cuba's Raul Castro

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

HAVANA (AFP) — Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and a top security official met Cuban President Raul Castro on Thursday as part of a three-day visit focusing on building commercial ties, official media said.

The talks were conducted in a "cordial and friendly atmosphere" with both sides expressing the hope of bolstering already positive relations, said the statement carried by the Cuban press agency, Prensa Latina.

The meeting with Raul Castro, 77, successor to his ailing 81-year-old brother Fidel who handed over power in February, also included Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council and former head of the country's powerful Federal Security Service, the statement said.

The meeting comes after Russia's defense ministry last week...